Interview: British cellist wishes to bring music to poor areas in China

LONDON, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Julian Lloyd Webber, the "doyen of British cellists," said he wished to bring a program to China so that children in the poorest areas could learn music.

The program, called "In Harmony," was inspired by Venezuela's El Sistema. Funded by the Department of Education and chaired by Webber, it aims to exploit the power of music to bring positive changes in the life of young children, their families and their communities.

"It was an exciting program," Webber told Xinhua. "When I saw the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra in 2007 in London, I thought we had to do something similar in the UK."

At that time, he had a lot of discussions with the government about music education. "They asked if I wanted to lead this program, which I did. The good thing is the new government, the conservative government, continued it."

According to Webber, to date several thousand children have been benefited from the six projects across England.

"It targeted the poorest areas in England, with crimes, drugs, unemployment and all kinds of problems," he said. Music brings different characters out of the children, the cellist noted.

So he believed it was not only a gradual process to change children's school work, but affect their parents, their families and whole community at large.

Now the program has been carried out all over Europe and in the United States as well, but Webber believed it should be expanded all over the world. "People in every country have similar problems, like unemployment, drugs, especially in the poorest areas," he said.

"In the past, countries used to tackle these problems in the same way. They have court systems and put people into prison. But this is a better way to tackle it, because it is changing people involved," he said.

On music's positive role in changing people's way of life, Webber said that some young musician once said "when I played my violin, I don't want to do bad stuff any more."

"They found something else in their life, which is more interesting to them than taking drugs or committing crimes," he said.

Webber said that some people in China had already showed interest in the program.

"It needs to be studied," he said. "The idea can be the same, but it needs to be adapted to local countries. It would almost certainly be different in China, but the motto is the same."

In fact, the musician has some special connection with China as his wife Cheng Jiaxin was from Shanghai.

The couple have a daughter, Jasmine, and they visit Cheng's parents regularly. Over the years, Webber said he has "discovered and learned far more about China."

"I feel close to China," he said.

The cellist is the second son of composer William Lloyd Webber, and the younger brother of well-known composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose works included "Cats" and "the Phantom of the Opera."

Julian Lloyd Webber said he decided to be a professional musician when he was 13. "From that point on, music has become the central thing in my life," he said.

Now he also found the musical talent in Jasmine. "Jasmine loves music," he said. "She always dances to music."

Although he was not sure whether his daughter would become a musician as well, Webber did believe music can bring a lot into people's life, and wanted to tell Chinese parents that to have the experience of playing music instrument is important.

"Even if they don't go on to do music, it gives them understanding as how music was made and what kinds of work was involved to actually make it," he said.

Also, it has been proved that high-standard music skills can change your brain and the way people coordinate and think, Webber said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/culture/2013-07/03/c_132507709.htm